Runaway
by lunarchroniclesandcockatiels
Summary: A 4 year old Luke and Leia take a trip to the Coruscant Underworld. Sequel to my one shot, 'Lightsaber.'


**Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars.**

"Luke?" Leia asked her brother. "Do you think I'm going to get in trouble?"

Luke sighed, frowning. "What did you do _now_ , Leia?"

"Um... I sort of took Obi-Wan's lightsaber." she replied sheepishly, pulling iit out from her sweater pocket. Luke looked appalled.

"Leia!" he reprimanded. "That's bad! You're going to be in trouble!"

"I know," she sighed.

"Remember what happened the last time you took a lightsaber?" Luke asked. Leia nodded.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Leia's eyes widened.

"Luke!" she whispered loudly. "Daddy and Obi-Wan are coming! What do we do?"

"Maybe if we hide on the roof they won't see us and know you took Obi-Wan's lightsaber," Luke replied thoughtfully.

"Okay!" Leia whispered back. She grabbed her brother's arm and pulled him toward the window. Leia then carefully pried the window open, and helped Luke onto the roof.

Leia could feel her father and Obi-Wan's force signature as they walked into the room. She squeezed her eyes shut, leaning against the house for support.

"Leia!" her father called. "Luke! Do you know anything about the disappearance of Obi-Wan's lightsaber?"

"They're not in the room," Obi-Wan sighed.

"True, but I feel them. They're close by," Anakin replied. "Leia! Luke!" he yelled. "Get out here with Obi-Wan's lightsaber this instant!"

Leia ordinarily would have climbed back into the room, 'saber in tow, but she could tell by his tone that she was in trouble. _Big_ trouble.

"Luke," she whispered. "We're going to have to jump off the rope."

Luke, who normally followed her plans without question, gaped at her with astounded silence. "Are you crazy, Leia?" he finally said. "I don't want to die!"

"We won't," Leia promised. "Just trust me."

Luke sighed. "Okay," he finally decided. "But if I get hurt you're going to be in really, really, big trouble."

"I know," Leia replied. "Just trust me, Luke. Here," And she held out her hand.

Luke took it cautiously. "Okay," he breathed. "On the count of three, let's jump."

"One,"

Leia grabbed Luke and inched towards the edge of the roof.

"Two,"

Leia reached out with thee Force.

"Three,"

They jumped.

She felt the wind whipping around her and Luke, but she concentrated on none of that as she brought them safely to the ground using the Force. It was tiring, but exhilarating all the same.

Luke looked towards her, a grin on his usually sullen face. "That," he said, "Was awesome! Now what?"

"Let's explore," Leia said. Luke frowned. "Come on, Luke, it'll be fun!"

"But we aren't supposed to!" he insistedf.

"It'll be fine," Leia insisted.

"Okay," Luke insisted, sounding doubtful.

And they started to walk into Coruscant.

* * *

"I'm hungry," Luke complained a half hour later.

"Let's buy some candy," Leia decided, grabbing Luke's hand, and directing him to what appeared to be a nearby candy store.

"But we don't have any credits!" Luke cried.

Leia shrugged. "So? Maybe if we ask nicely, they'll give us some!"

"Okay," Luke said, following Leia into the store.

* * *

"Could we have some candy?" Leia asked, putting on her best smile, the one she used when she wanted candy and Obi-Wan was babysitting. "Please?"

The woman at the counter eyed them skeptically. She was some kind of alien humanoid species, but Leia didn' t remember the exact name. Something that started with a T, although Leia wasn't sure. She didn't know all her letters yet.

"Do you have enough credits, children?" the woman asked. She spoke with a thick accent that wasn't Coruscantian.

"Uh," said Leia, flashing another smile.

"Uh," repeated Luke.

"No credits, no service. Now get out of my store!" The woman grabbed a broom and pointed it at them, as if trying to sweep the twins outside.

"But we're hungry!" Leia protested. The woman seemed to hesitate for a second, let her guard down a little.

"We're _all_ hungry," she said. "Everyone on Coruscant except for the senators. They say that even the Jedi barely have enough money. Ever since those Clone Wars..." She got a faraway look in her eyes, as if remembering. "You know what? Not many people come in here anyways. Who am I to let children starve?" She handed Leia and Luke a piece of candy.

"Thank you," Leia cried. She pulled out a scrap of paper from her pocket. "Here. I drew a picture. You can have it,"

* * *

"She was nice," Luke said as soon as they got out of the store.

"Yeah," Leia agreed. They continued walking along the dark streets of Coruscant.

"Leia," Luke asked, wipiing at his eyes. "When are we going home?"

"I don't know," his twin admitted. "But Daddy said the Coruscant Underworld was cool. Let's go there!"

Luke shook his head. "No, I don't want to. Let's go home, Leia."

"Daddy said that bad guys live down there. We can fight them with Obi-Wan's lightsaber," Leia persisted.

"Well..." Luke sighed. Fighting bad guys was cool. Especially when you had a lightsaber. "Okay. But only for a little. Then let's go home,"

"Okay!" Leia agreed, pulling her brother towards the nearest ventilation shaft.

* * *

The ride down was long, but Luke and Leia both agreed it was fun. They had never been in a ventilation shaft before.

"Where are the bad guys?" Luke asked. Leia shrugged. Bad guys could come later. _She_ wanted to explore.

After walking around and exploring for about half an hour, Leia and Luke were hungry again. They didn't know how to read yet, so they decided to pick where to eat based on the color of the sign.

"I like purple," Leia said, pointing to a purple sign. Luke pouted.

"I want to go there," he stated, pointing to one with a green sign. "Besides, you always get to pick _everything_ , Leia."

"No, I don't!" Leia argued. "You got to pick what dinner was yesterday, Luke. _And_ the day before."

"That's because you were bad and threw Mommy's shoe out the window," Luke replied calmly.

"I did not!"

"Yes, you did."

"Fine," Leia grumbled. "I guess we can go to you stupid green restaurant, Luke,"

"Mommy says that we're not supposed to say stupid," Luke reminded his sister.

"I forgot," Leia admitted.

"It's okay, Leia. Let's go to the restaurant now."

* * *

"Could we please have some food?" Luke asked the manager, a male weequay with gray eyes.

The manager laughed coldly. "You got something to pay with, boy?"

"I'll trade you my sweater," Leia offered quickly, and before Luke could say anything, she took off the sweater and hid the lightsaber in her pocket.

The weequay eyed the sweater carefully. "Deal," he said. "What do you want?"

"Food," Leia replied. What else would she want.

"You want a drink?"

"Milk, please," Luke answered politely. The weequay threw back his head and laughed.

"Milk," he muttered, still laughing. "No, we don't have milk. What do think this is- the Duchess Satine's palace?"

"Uh, not exactly," Leia replied. "Besides, Duchess Satine of Mandalore is dead,"

"Do you want Corellian Brandy?" the manager asked, choosing to ignore Leia.

Leia exchanged a look with Luke. "Is that like Nubian Pear Juice?"

"Uh, no."

"Is it yummy?"

The manager sighed. "I give up. Lyra!" he yelled into the kitchen. "Two orders of 'food' please!"

"Thank you," said Leia, taking her plate of food. "Let's go sit down," she whispered to Luke, who nodded, and followed Leia to the nearest tawhen

"Is this seat taken?" Leia asked the Twi'lek at the next table over, when she realized that the table she and Luke were sitting at had only one chair.

"It is now," the Twi'lek said, placing his foot on the chair. Leia tried to lift the foot off, and she would have succeeded if the Twi'lek hadn't pointed his blaster at her.

"Do that again," he warned, "and I'll shoot you. Do you hear?"

Leia nodded, stepping back a little. Luke pulled the lightsaber out from her pocket, and turned it on.

"Don't talk to my sister that way," he said, rather bravely (so he thought). "Or I'll blast you into oblivion!" Luke didn't actually know what that meant, but he had heard Obi-Wan say it, and it sounded cool.

The Twi'lek started to laugh. "Jedi, eh? You two look young enough to be in the crèche."

"Leave them alone," said a tall figure, stepping out of the shadcows. He wore Jedi Robes, which Luke easily recognized, since Obi-Wan always wore them. "Or he really will blast you into oblivion," he winked at Luke.

The Twi'lek frowned, but handed the chair over.

"Now tell me," the tall figure asked. "What are you two doing out of the temple, and in the Underworld?"

"We're not from the temple," Leia tried to explain. Luke turned off the lightsaber.

The Jedi raised an eyebrow. "Then where did you get a lightsaber?"

Luke pointed towards his sister. "She stole it!"

"I did not!" Leia cried.

"Yes, you did,"

"No, I didn't. I borrowed it,"

"Stop lying, Leia!*

"I'm not lying!"

"Who did you uh, borrow it from, uh..Leia?"

"Obi-Wan Kenobi," she replied. "I like his name 'cause it sort of rhymes."

"What's your name?" Luke asked.

"Caleb Dume," the Jedi replied.

"That's nice," Leia said, stuffing food in her pockets. "Well, bye!"

"You two aren't going anywhere," Caleb Dume replied. "You're coming with me, back to the Temple. I promise you, it will be way better than living here,"

"We don't live here," Luke stated.

"Yeah," Leia added. She grabbed the chair. "And we aren't going anywhere!"

Caleb Dume picked both of them up in one easy motion. "It appears that you are,"

"That's not fair!" Luke cried. Leia tried to punch the Jedi, to no avail.

* * *

Once back at the temple, and not under the watchful eye of Caleb Dume, Leia saw a chance for escape. She grabbed her brother's hand, and pulled him towards the exit. Together they ran down flights of stairs.

"Let's go home," Luke said. And for once, Leia agreed.

* * *

"Home's this way!" Leia yelled, stomping her foot.

"No, it's _this_ way," Luke said calmly. "Besides, you were wrong about which way it was the last _three_ times,"

"I'm tired," Leia complained.

"Come on, let's go sit down," Luke said. And the next thing Leia knew, Luke was snoring, and she could see all of the stars, but her blanket wasn't there, and she was freezing since she gave away her sweater.

* * *

"They're here," Leia heard someone say. "I can't believe it. We found them."

"Leia is presumably quite cold, with not wearing a sweater or anything," another voice commented.

Then suddenly, someone was picking her up, and wrapping her with their robes, and she instantly felt a little warmer. But still cold. Opening her eyes, she looked into the familiar face of her father.

"I'm cold, Daddy," she muttered, closing her eyes again.

"I know," he replied. "Nights on Coruscant are freezing..." he trailed off, pulling her closer.

"I traded my sweater," she replied. "The one Aunt Sola gave me. For food,"

Anakin coughed. "Your mother will not be at all happy when she finds out,"

"I'm sorry," Leia murmured, falling asleep again

* * *

"All right," said Anakin Skywalker, the next morning at breakfast. He glanced pointedly at Luke and Leia, who attempted to look innocent. "Today we are going to discuss why we don't steal Obi-Wan's lightsaber, then go to the Underworld and trade our sweater for food. After this little talk, I am going to tell your mother about your little..." he paused, trying to think of a word. "..adventure."

Leia gulped.


End file.
